Daily Archives: December 7, 2013

I have often thought that the concept of the rate of growth and desire to speed up that growth, could be best illustrated by the analogy of a tiny man or woman in, and at the bottom, of a jar when they are born.

Below, I will attempt to examine this further:

The jar is a metaphor for the set of conditions and circumstances we are born into. The bottom represents the time and place of our entering this world. The small person represents us, as we learn and grow and apply what we know and have learned. The sand or clay represents challenges and opportunities presented to us on a daily or even more frequent basis. The stones simply represent bigger opportunities or challenges. The lip of the jar represents the point in time when we are able to get past our set of circumstances, thought patterns, or habits. The outside of the jar represents the rest of the Universe or almost limitless possibilities waiting for us to grasp once we learn certain lessons and achieve certain applied skills.

So, imagine a man trying to get out of a jar; but the only tools he is given is that of gradual grains of sand or clay being dropped into the jar from above. One would think that it would be much faster if you put a bunch of stones in instead, as stepping stones. That is the solution that seems to come to mind quickest, once we become impatient for things to change in our lives.

In order to do that, though, we have to build from the bottom – up. We have to create with what we were originally given. Take a poker player for a moment – the best ones, I’ve been told, are not necessarily the ones with the best hands; but the ones with the best strategy and know how to read people and circumstances and to even bluff at times.

I know that I’m mixing metaphors, here, but if you stay with me for a bit more, where we’re headed may become more clear…

So, there you are: a tiny man or woman, at the very bottom of the jar (at birth). Life begins tossing in grains of sand or grains of clay. If big boulders dropped on us, they could instantly kill us. Now, imagine that we can let this stuff continue to fall on our heads, and bury us alive; or we can somehow make room and step on those grains,(skillfully spread around and stacked upon one another), once they make it to the bottom of the jar. We begin to do this, and soon, we are standing on a nice foundation that we’ve even managed to smooth out.

Now, let’s say that as time goes on, we decide that we’re no longer satisfied with these itty-bitty grains of clay and want to move faster in our life; so we beg for huge boulders again. Besides, getting smashed in the head, what happens if we have actually been able to build with these boulders or stones and now are leaping merrily up the mountain? What happens if we miss-step and fall all the way back down to where the sand or clay is? – We get battered and bruised along the way down. We may even die while smashing from rock to rock, until we finally cease our descent.

Yet, we haven’t discussed the other dynamic going on, here. Eventually that little person grows into a bigger person, stronger mind, will, imagination, knowledge base, and sets of skills. If we take this into account, as well, then, we see that our rate of success can merge almost seamlessly with our rate of growth. And when I speak of growth; I’m not just referring to going from a child to an adult; but am including the things I mentioned above, as well. Eventually, when you’ve gotten big enough, you will be too large to fall into the cracks of those stones. In essence, your person or soul or life power/personal power will be big enough so that you will actually NEED larger sized grains of sand/clay; or even stones.

1) Please leave a comment or tell your story, or just give an example from your own life, if this resonates with you. All are welcome!

2) AND – if you know how to get rid of the annoying hidden characters which keep showing up at the top of my blog, from Microsoft WORD – help!